Labor of Love Open House

A Labor of Love

Afterburners Open House Meeting on August 30, 2016, was a grand success!  In fact, we earned a Golden Gavel ribbon for the great number of members present, many special guests, no changes to the agenda, and we began and ended on time!  PLUS......we had a special array of FOOD!  Toastmasters meetings don't get any better than that!

To our delight, special guests Veronica Sites (left), District 25 Representative, and International Director David McCallister (center) pushed the greatness of our meeting off the charts!  They are pictured above with President Setma Maddox (right).   Additionally, Afterburners is the home club to three Area Directors — Area 11 Director, Holly Trinh; Area 13 Director, Aileen Hummel; and Area 24 Director, Kim Story — all present at our Open House.

To add to the excitement, our best speaker was Verlin Yoder (right) delivering his 2nd speech from the Competent Communication manual.  Verlin cleverly relayed his SMART goals using the analogy of entering the "Hotten than Hell" bike race of 100 miles in Wichita Falls.  He is pictured here with Best Evaluator Jim Hummel, and winner of Table Topics Antoinette Silas.

Our efforts paid off too as we garnered a couple of new members in the process!  All told, we can agree that being a Toastmaster is truly a Labor of Love.  You may view more photos here.

Preparation leads to confidence

Steven Thorn

Preparation is a key factor in becoming a good public speaker. Preparation leads to confidence.

In 2009, I competed in the International Speech Competition, winning the Club, Area, and Division rounds before finishing Second at the District level.

To prepare for the International Speech Competition, I wrote out my speech on the computer and continually revised it.

I chose every single word in my speech to make the sentences smooth, understandable, and pleasing to the ear.

Listening to good speakers and observing how they organize their thoughts can help you organize your own thoughts.
Reading quality books, magazines, and newspapers can also give you a model for writing your speeches.

For those of you who hated English class AND hate public speaking, don't give up. All of you who enjoy math, take heart. We're not going to do math right now, but I am going to provide you with a formula:

1) Introduction: Tell the audience what you're going to tell them.
2) Body: Tell them.
3) Conclusion: Tell them what you told them.

This is a classic organizational strategy, like the traditional five paragraph essay from English class.
Typically, your speech (or essay) has a theme, and you support or explain the theme in three main points.
Talk about the theme and the three points in the introduction, flesh out the three points in the body, and recap the three points and how they support the theme in the conclusion.

After you write your speech, you need to practice it. While preparing for the International Speech Competition, I practiced my speech every day in front of the mirror until I was sick of it.
When I didn’t want to practice it anymore, I practiced it one more time.

Give your speech to yourself in front of a mirror to watch your eye contact and gestures. Being in front of a mirror should help you to act naturally. It may reveal distracting habits that you have, like jangling loose change in your pockets or wringing your hands.

If you can, record your speech and listen to (or watch) the recording. This will help you to enunciate correctly and talk at a natural pace.
You must practice your speech out loud before you give it, because the spoken word sounds different than the written word. Some things just don't make sense when you say them out loud. You want to identify the rough spots in your speech before you give it.

I prepared for my speech: wrote, revised, practiced, recorded and listened, watched myself in the mirror — and then I finally gave the speech in the competition.

Did all of that preparation give me confidence when I stepped onto that stage, in front of all those people, to deliver my speech?

Yes, it was SHOW TIME for Steven Thorn!

I wasn't worried about the competition or the judges. Win or lose, I was going to do my best.
I was ready.

While you may never feel the same excitement about "show time," preparation will give you confidence.

Don't focus on your nerves or the urge to throw up. Focus on the fact that you have a message to deliver and you're ready to do it. Let that preparation give you the strength and confidence to do whatever public speaking you have to do.

Preparation leads to confidence.

Plan your speech.

Practice your speech.

Become a confident speaker.

Steven Thorn